Category Archives: Christchurch shooting

The extreme right was once a loose group of loners. Not any more

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The pattern has changed and must not be ignored

Christchurch has turned everyone’s attention to the phenomenon of extreme rightwing terrorism. But it is an alarm bell that authorities in the UK have been ringing for some time, having seen an ascendant extreme-right threat. Our collective attention, when thinking about terrorism, may be dominated by Isis, but given the rich vein of references to the UK in Brenton Tarrant’s screed, there are clearly other concerns to which we should pay attention.

Around the turn of the century and during the early noughties, the extreme-right threat in the UK tended to consist of a ragbag of isolated loners. For the most part middle-aged white men, they tended to be discovered by chance – violent characters with spotty employment histories, a few of them picked up as a result of investigations into online paedophilia. Some particularly shambolic cases, such as that of Neil Lewington, were uncovered by accident. Lewington was arrested by British Transport police after urinating on a train platform in 2008. Subsequent investigations uncovered an aspirant one-man terror campaign, planning pipe-bomb attacks and gathering Nazi memorabilia.

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Grafton was known for jacaranda blossom but mosque shootings have changed that

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Residents of the city where the alleged Christchurch killer Brenton Tarrant grew up are uneasy with the global attention

At the Boundary Store, a corner shop at the northern end of Grafton, they remember the quiet boy who lived nearby. “He was a bit of a loner, but he was sweet.”

In the centre of the New South Wales city, at the newsagent’s, his face is on the front page of every Saturday paper. A woman comes in and habitually picks up the Grafton Daily Examiner. “Why do they have to go and put that on the front?” she grumbles. “That’s all we’ll ever be known for again.”

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‘Friendship over fear’: Manchester man shows solidarity with local mosque

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Andrew Graystone responds to Christchurch massacre with message ‘I will keep watch while you pray’

A Mancunian whose message of solidarity with a local mosque after the Christchurch massacre went viral has said the overwhelming response shows “the power of choosing friendship over fear”.

Andrew Graystone from Levenshulme stood outside the Madina mosque on Friday after hearing about the shooting at two mosques in New Zealand that left 49 people dead.

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Christchurch: how quiet city became target for terror

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Known as the garden city, Christchurch was a soft target for an attack, security experts say

Twenty-four hours after a gunman rampaged through two mosques in the South Island city of Christchurch, attention was turning to why this quiet, provincial enclave became the target for New Zealand’s deadliest extremist attack – and what lured the suspect to drive more than 350km north from his home in Dunedin to carry out the attack.

There is dissonance too in the benign atmosphere of Christchurch, “the garden city”, and the grotesque horror that unfolded on Friday afternoon. It was for a long time described as “the most English city outside of England”, with its quaint gardens and picturesque gothic revival architecture. Named after Christ Church, Oxford, the city is bisected by the river Avon and in its centre stood, until the devastating 2011 earthquake, the commanding Christchurch Cathedral. The pace of life is slow, the people modest.

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Australian senator Fraser Anning punches teen after being egged

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Marginal far-right senator had sought attention by blaming the New Zealand terror attack on Muslim immigration

An Australian senator who blamed the New Zealand terror attack on Muslim immigration has punched a 17-year-old boy after he was egged at an event in Melbourne.

Video footage recorded at the event appears to show Fraser Anning, a far-right independent Queensland senator, halfway through a press conference when the teenager cracked an egg over his head while filming with a mobile phone. The senator responded by punching the 17-year-old. The teenager was then tackled to the ground by Anning’s supporters and held in a chokehold.

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New Zealand massacre: shooter intended to continue attack, says PM

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Jacinda Ardern poised to ban semi-automatic weapons as she praises police who arrested terror suspect

New Zealand will ban semi-automatic weapons after the worst mass killing in the nation’s history left 49 people dead and another 48 injured.

As the nation reeled following the terror attack on two mosques in the South Island city of Christchurch, New Zealand attorney general David Parker said the weapons would be outlawed.

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‘My heart and soul is in grief’: Muslims in Christchurch mourn victims of massacre

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In the wake of the worst mass killing in the nation’s history, New Zealanders have rallied around the shocked community

In the silence that wrapped Christchurch after a day of sirens, many struggled to find the language for what had happened to the city.

At a cordon several metres from the mosques where the deadly rampage unfolded on Friday, people came, one by one, to pay their respects. A few shed quiet tears or spoke in hushed tones, but mostly, they just stood and watched.

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Australia cancels Milo Yiannopoulos’s visa after Christchurch comments

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Immigration minister says remarks by far-right figure were ‘appalling and foment hatred and division’

The Australian government has cancelled the visa of far-right commentator Milo Yianopoulos just a week after it was personally approved by the immigration minister.

Immigration minister David Coleman said on Saturday that comments about Islam made by Yiannopoulos in the wake of the Christchurch massacre were “appalling and foment hatred and division” and he would not be allowed in the country.

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A letter to our leaders: as Australian Muslims we live in fear, please remember our pain

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How is it right that in our parliament it is OK to call Islam a ‘disease’, it is OK to refer to a ‘final solution’, it is OK to ridicule our religious attire?

Dear Mr Morrison and Mr Shorten,

I am an Australian Muslim woman. I am highly educated and hold a professional job. In fact, I spend a great deal of my working life with the Australian legal system. I am a wife. I am a mother. And tonight I am frightened, anxious and so very sad.

The tragedy that has occurred in Christchurch has pierced a hole in my heart that I cannot actually close. The grief is deep – these innocent people were simply praying when massacred by a man who had a deep disdain and hatred for them, not because they said or did anything but simply because they were Muslim.

Watching the images and hearing the eyewitness accounts is beyond traumatic. We have shed tears and expressed our hurt, but most of us have something in common – as hard as it is to say this, we are not surprised or shocked.

Why? Because we have lived with this fear for a long time now. Genuine fear that our lives are at risk simply because we are Muslim.

Related: 'We love you': mosques around world showered with flowers after Christchurch massacre

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‘We love you’: mosques around world showered with flowers after Christchurch massacre

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Messages of support and solidarity delivered in New Zealand, Australia, Britain, America and Canada

Mosques in New Zealand and around the world have been inundated with floral tributes and messages of support after a massacre in Christchurch that killed 49 Muslims.

The strongest response from the public was in New Zealand, which is reeling in the wake of the worst peacetime mass killing in the nation’s history.

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Sky New Zealand pulls Sky News Australia off air over Christchurch massacre coverage

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Independent channel says decision by Rupert Murdoch’s company to show ‘distressing’ footage of terror attack is behind move

Sky New Zealand has pulled fellow broadcaster Sky News Australia off air until the channel stops broadcasting clips from the Christchurch mosque shooter’s Facebook live stream.

In a tweet posted on Saturday morning, Sky New Zealand, an independently-owned broadcaster, said it had decided to remove the Australian 24-hour news channel from its platform because of the distressing footage.

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‘It’s a small group of people’: Trump again denies white nationalism is rising threat

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President downplays hate surge after white supremacist, who mentioned Trump in a manifesto, attacked New Zealand mosques

Donald Trump said he did not view white nationalism as a rising threat around the world, as New Zealand is reeling from a white supremacist attack on two mosques that killed 49 people.

Asked by a reporter on Friday if he saw an increase globally in the threat of white nationalism, the US president responded: “I don’t really. I think it’s a small group of people that have very, very serious problems. I guess, if you look at what happened in New Zealand, perhaps that’s a case. I don’t know enough about it yet.”

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New Zealand felt removed from the global voices of hatred. No longer | Elle Hunt

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The Christchurch mosque attacks have challenged the complacency of the ‘Kiwi way’

New Zealand has never been the perfect country you might imagine from afar, from the quirky stories about lovelorn gannets and avocado heists, but it is generally safe, and stable, apart from the earthquakes. In these times, that makes it an idyll. It is telling that three days ago, the greatest threat in the island nation – the headline news – was an outbreak of measles.

Then, in a matter of hours on Friday, 49 people were shot dead in attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, the largest city in the South Island, their deaths livestreamed on Facebook. Explosive devices were found attached to cars, and the city was put on lockdown. There was no creeping threat, no public debate: New Zealand’s terror-risk level went from a perceived zero to an unequivocal high.

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New Zealand shooting: 49 dead in terrorist attack at two mosques – live updates

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Three in custody over attack that also left 20 people seriously injured

The suspect in the attack on two mosques in Christchurch opened fire on worshippers using rifles covered in white-supremacist graffiti after listening to a song glorifying a Bosnian Serb war criminal.

The gunman, who identified himself as Brenton Tarrant, a 28-year-old born in Australia, streamed footage live on social media before and during the massacre. It showed him driving to the first mosque while listening to a song idolising Radovan Karadzic, who was jailed for genocide and other war crimes against Bosnian Muslims.

Related: What do we know about the Christchurch attack suspect?

Nearly NZ $500,000 (£257,500) has already been raised for the victims of Christchurch terror attack. More than 7,400 people have now donated to the crowdfunding page on Givealittle, which was set up by the New Zealand Council of Victim Support Groups, the country’s primary support provider for people affected by homicide.

Another campaign, spearheaded by a coalition of New Zealand Islamic groups, has raised nearly NZ $350,000 NZ

If you're moved to donate to help those impacted in the Christchurch terror attack, here's 2 funding drives. Victim Support is an NZ org working with victims: https://t.co/pISPWj32F2 And there's a campaign by a coalition of NZ Islamic groups: https://t.co/kqtMwkuOF0

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Jeb Bush calls on Republicans to challenge Trump in 2020 – live

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Donald Trump has now scheduled a 3:30 pm Oval Office event where it’s expected he will veto the congressional resolution to block his national emergency.

The schedule says he will deliver remarks on national security and the humanitarian crisis at the southern border.

Trump will "VETO!" at 3:30 in the Oval Office, per updated schedule. And will deliver remarks.

Senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders got 7 stitches to his head after hitting his head on a glass shower door this morning, his campaign says. He got a “clean bill of health” and plans to continue with his regular schedule.

Just in: @BernieSanders campaign informed the press that the senator will proceed with his schedule after hitting his head on a glass shower door this morning. He went to a walk-in clinic and received 7 stitches. The notice says he was given a "clean bill of health".

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What does Christchurch attack tell us about rightwing extremism?

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The motivations and actions of far-right terrorists are not dissimilar to those of others

The terrorist attack in New Zealand has focused attention once more on the acute threat posed by rightwing extremists.

Waves of terrorism follow a pattern: a long, unnoticed buildup followed by a massive and spectacular strike that often inflicts significant damage and casualties but focuses minds and eventually resources.

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Do the Christchurch shootings expose the murderous nature of ‘ironic’ online fascism? | Jason Wilson

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The most terrible livestream in history suggests online fascism is the most dangerous political current in the world today

Before the massacre in Christchurch, New Zealand, in which 49 people were murdered at Friday prayers at two mosques, a man who identified himself as Brenton Tarrant posted notice of his intention to live-stream an “attack” on 8chan, the notorious online messageboard.

It opened with jokey, ironic lingo. “Well lads, it’s time to stop shitposting and time to make a real life effort post … It’s been a long ride and despite all your rampant faggotry, fecklessness and degeneracy, you are all top blokes and the best bunch of cobbers a man could ask for.”

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How the Christchurch attack unfolded – visual guide

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Mass shootings at two mosques in the New Zealand city left 49 dead and many injured

• Christchurch shootings – latest updates

One or more gunmen attacked two mosques in Christchurch, the largest city in New Zealand’s South Island, killing 49 people during Friday prayers. Three people are in custody and one man has been charged with murder. Police also say they have found explosive devices.

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